Last night Kanye West premiered "Love Lockdown," the first single from his untitled fourth album. The song should be available on iTunes today and that clean/non-live reveal may disprove this thought, but I doubt it: Kanye, going against the grain, has made the most important song of his career since "Jesus Walks." And he pulled off a nifty prediction he made, albeit a year later than he said he would."Love Lockdown" is stadium music, far more indebted to U2 (or at least Coldplay) than anything he's recorded. Especially the song he actually recorded with Coldplay's Chris Martin. I struggled with last year's Graduation more than most, confused by the melding of old chipmunk soul Kanye ("The Glory," "Champion," "I Wonder") with Hybrid-happy Mr. West ("Stronger," "Homecoming"). Only in splashes did I think he'd hit on something new, something bigger, something wider in scope than what he'd done before. The sweeping orchestral skyscraper "Flashing Lights," in particular, a Capital B Big song nailed it, thumbing its nose at structure, toying with synths, and making fucking Dwele sound fantastic. "Love Lockdown" appears to be born with the same DNA. It's built on the tried-and-true quiet-loud-quiet construction (think "Smells Like Teen Spirit") and it's a heart-on-sleeve gutwrencher, once again either about his late mother, his ex-fiancee, or both. Or neither. Either way it is an affecting song that feels urgent and swept up, the same way "Jesus Walks" still does and probably always will. Oh, also he doesn't rap a bar. It's all autotuned vocals here. And, frankly, it's well-done.
Since College Dropout, Kanye's music has often sounded as though he were trying to top himself, more about form than feeling. Tinkering with Jon Brion, reallocating Daft Punk, sampling Can. These are all personal one-ups. "Love Lockdown" is a gut move, a personal record that, with this sudden and almost unhyped release, seems like something Kanye West needs to get off his chest.
